Dear friends, I originally submitted this document in one part and it never saw the light of day. I believe, because of its length, it was probably exceeded the allowable size limit of the rootsweb server. Therefore, I will attempt once more to share this information with you, by dividing it into three separate submissions. THE WOOTENS OF DEKALB COUNTY AL PART I of 3 parts: FOR WOOTEN RESEARCHERS (OR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE DEKALB COUNTY ALABAMA WOOTEN LINE) (Please NOTE: This document is from a a study by Richard C. Wooton, prepared for Calvin Wooten prior to the Wooten Family Reunion held at Noccalula Falls Park, Gadsden, Alabama on Saturday, October 22, 1988. This outlines the research Richard Wooton had completed at that time regarding the DeKalb County Alabama Branch of the Wooten line and his comments regarding how he believed it connected to the Isle of Wight, VA (IOW) Wooten line. Since this study was completed, however, other research has taken place and it is safe to say as of this date we have not proven beyond any doubt our connection nor do we know for sure who the father of our William J. Wootten (b. 1801 Pickens SC) was. So we are still looking! We would like to know more about both William and Jesse Wootten who lived in Marlboro County, SC per the 1820 Census, roll 121 p. 83: WILLIAM WOTON, with males 1 16-25 (himself) and females 1 16-26 (his wife Susanna) (Richard's references). Jesse was listed also on page 83, with males, 2 under 10, 1 16-25 (himself), and females, 1 45 and over. Richard surmised this older female might have been Jesse's mother or mother-in-law. He has further suggested that since Marlboro is bounded on the northeast by NC and that Sampson County, NC was just to the northeast, and since Sampson County NC was home to numerous Wootens between 1790 and 1840, that perhaps Jesse might have moved to SC from Sampson County, NC. Fortunately, there is some evidence that this is exactly the case, as he explained: The evidence is that Jesse and William likely were brothers, since Robert, William Jr. Jesse, Thomas and James (sons of William Sr.) jointly deeded a tract of land to their younger brother or nephew, Brittain Wooten (Sampson Deed Book 10, pp 535-536 15 April 1797.) If anyone has any additional related information to this branch, we would be grateful to receive it or to have it posted here.) (The spelling variations of WOOTEN, WOOTON, WOOTTEN, WOTON, WATTON were utilized in the original documents.) (I would like to thank Janet Walsted especially for sharing this information with me and for her continuing diligent effort to find our missing link. I regret I was unable to maintain the original formatting of this document but I believe the data contained therein will come through in a readable form.) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Study of DeKalb County Wootens by Richard C. Wooton WOOTENS OF DEKALB COUNTY ALABAMA AND THEIR ORIGINS BACKGROUND (Pages originally numbered 101-108) It was over eight years ago, at the US National Archives 27 June 1980, that I first encountered records of some Woottens who moved from Georgia to DeKalb County Alabama around 1856-57. Since that time, we have found more records pertaining to these people, but as none of our members at that time claimed descent from them, we made no systematic attempt to trace their further Wootten ancestry until recently, when two of our valued Associates, Anita Wootten Herlong of Birmingham and our Past-President E.C. Wooton of Huntsville, sent us clippings of articles published by the Birmingham News and the Huntsville Times respectively. One Birmingham News article was entitled "Blind business owner Calvin Wooten plays successful sales tune," on page B-11 of the September 3 issue. The article describes how Calvin Wooten, now age 64, became a successful piano tuner, and how he has operated the Wooten Piano Company of Anniston, Alabama for over 40 years. The News reporter further that last year he had received the Ambassador Award of the American Council for the Blind, being chosen over 35,000 others throughout the nation, and that he has now been awarded the 1988 Migel medal, the highest honor given by the American Foundation for the Blind, to be presented to him 27 October 1988 in New York City. On reading the similar Huntsville article, E.C. Wooten wrote to Calvin Wooten, telling him of the work of our Association. It turned out that Calvin and his wife Winell Wooten are already deeply involved in Wooten genealogy, and have in fact organized a Wooten Reunion to take place Saturday October 22 at Noccalula Falls Park in Gadsden Alabama (announcement reproduced herewith). Consequently, Calvin Wooten lost no time in joining our Association, and wrote to me giving his known Wooten ancestry as follows: "My grandfather was Barney Wooten from Rainsville, AL. His father was Dr. William Jasper Wooten (Bill) from DeKalb County, Alabama, but we understand he may have been from Indiana, born about 1830 and died August 25, 1899. They were the parents of 11 children." Upon receipt of Calvin's letter, I reviewed the records in our files pertaining to DeKalb Alabama Wootens, and prepared a report on our findings to date. We now present this report for the benefit of any readers who may be be descended from or otherwise related to this interesting Wooten family cluster. (To be continued with Part 2) submitted by Della Tenney [email protected] 1/23/98